A giant of African literature whose best works existed between the political and the personal, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was warm, funny and friendly – and liked to bet on my pool gamesAmong the African writers who emerged in the middle of the 20th century, the most political undoubtedly was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Born in Kenya while it was still under British rule he was anti-colonialist, a communist, anti-dictatorial, and an almost militant proponent for African languages being used for African literature.His best works exist at the interface between the political and the personal. His first book of essays, Homecoming, is at once engaging and polemical. His early novels Weep Not, Child and A Grain of Wheat look at the impact of colonialism and the Mau Mau rebellion on individual lives. He was strangely at his best with the personal and the intimate, but his reputation grew more from his political stances – first against the British government, then against the dictatorship in Kenya in the 70s. He was jailed not for a thundering political text but for a play in Kikuyu called I Will Marry When I Want. In prison he wrote his memoir on toilet paper. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-30 16:36:34 UTC ]
The Penguin Random House Ireland imprint buys medievalist Elizabeth Boyle's memoir hybrid. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-15 13:39:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
This week in films that I just…I just can’t: the first trailer for Ron Howard’s adaptation of J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy is now live. Based on Vance’s bestselling memoir about growing up in, and then escaping from, an abandoned Rust Belt town ravaged by poverty and drug addiction, the film... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-14 15:41:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Mrs Hinch's memoir This is Me (Michael Joseph) has dusted off a second week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 25,983 copies in its first full week on sale. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-12 18:35:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this
His memoir recounts his suspicions on Russia and has intriguing comments on Joe Biden. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“The road was a community in which we all pursued our destination at our own pace.” Lynne Sharon Schwartz on a lifetime in cars. | Lit Hub Memoir “People say I arrived in Trump’s America, but is it really Trump’s?” Ajibola Tolase making the move from Nigeria to the USA. | Lit Hub Politics “I’ve... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-09 10:30:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Maggie Smith, whose inspirational memoir, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change, is published by Atria/One Signal Publishers. In the book, Smith intersperses bits of memoir — about moving forward after... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-09 08:48:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Michael Joseph has bought a memoir from Jake Tyler, the mental health advocate, adventurer, runner, walker and depression sufferer who made headlines when he embarked on a 3,000-mile journey around the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-08 12:33:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Ebury Press has bagged Fleshpot, the second book by Cash Carraway, billed as a “powerful, politically-charged” coming of age memoir set in the last days of the Soho sex industry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-07 22:53:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The last few days have brought two major pieces of surf literature news: one welcome, the other dispiriting. The first is that Barbarian Days—New Yorker staff writer and journalist William Finnegan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning surf memoir and one of the greatest books ever written about the greatest... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-07 14:11:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Mrs Hinch's This is Me (Michael Joseph) has jumped straight to the top of the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Non-Fiction top 20 in its first week on sale. The cleaning influencer's memoir earned the "all ears" tag, meaning it was more listened to on Audible last week than read on Kindle. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-07 08:08:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
From memoir to young adult, there is a little bit of something for everyone on this list of audiobooks by Indigenous authors. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-10-06 10:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Verso is to publish the memoir of Korean novelist Hwang Sok-Yong, which details the years he spent in a Seoul Detention Centre. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-06 09:32:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Chatto & Windus has won a six-way auction for organic food grower Claire Ratinon's “beautiful and moving” memoir Unearthed: On Race and Roots, How the Soil Taught Me I Belong. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-05 23:59:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new memoir and rarities collection show the powerhouse vocalist and songwriter’s evolution into a poised, boundary-blurring pop superstar. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-10-04 17:32:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When Sonja Livingston began to write about her life with an itinerant mother and six siblings in the raw corners of western New York, she wrote, she says, in snatches. “I wrote of living in apartments and tents and motel rooms. Of places where corn and cabbage grew in great swaths. Of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-02 08:48:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A federal judge this week denied former national security adviser John Bolton’s motion to dismiss the government's case against him, finding that the government has presented sufficient evidence to support its claim that Bolton breached his confidentiality agreements by publishing his memoir... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In his memoir Children of the Land, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo tells the story of growing up undocumented in California and having to navigate the convoluted and dehumanizing American immigration system. Hernandez Castillo captures the emotional and psychological toll that being both invisible... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-01 11:00:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Thread, Bookouture's non-fiction imprint, will publish Coconut, a memoir of "belonging, identity and finding home" by debut author Florence Olajide. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-29 21:34:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In "Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas," Roberto Lovato finally tells the full story of his rebel life. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-09-29 18:31:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Sphere has acquired The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13¾ from stand-up comedian Tez Ilyas. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-28 11:30:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this